Defending champion
He always
knew the way.
Twelve GMs. One PPR league. An annual golf trip that decides the draft board, a Waffle House investigation that actually ended a franchise, and a beat writer who never misses a week.
Champion photo
drops here
This week in the league
The cup went to the last hole and then past it, the board got set, and 192 picks came off it. Atlas was there for all of it.
Eighteen holes could not separate them. The nineteenth did.
Team Alec has the cup, and it came down to exactly the two men you would have picked if you wanted this thing to hurt. Jonah and KJ went the full eighteen without either one able to put the other away, walked to a playoff hole with the whole trip sitting on it, and Jonah closed it. One hole. One match. The entire Ryder Cup.
Remember what the trip is actually for. It sets the order GMs choose their draft slots, which means Jonah did not just win a golf match, he moved the board. He took the fourth slot. KJ, who was one putt from flipping the cup, ended up choosing eleventh out of twelve. That is the whole cruelty of the format working exactly as designed.
And here is the part the schedule already knew: Jonah and KJ are rivals. The Funny Papers and Flock me open the season against each other in Week 1 and close it against each other in Week 14. They will play twice, both times with the season on the line, and neither of them is going to forget who won the nineteenth hole at Kentucky Dam Village.
Jumpball Jake, meanwhile, exercised the champion's privilege and took slot one, then handed the 1.01 straight to Gibb it to me baby, who had bought that pick months ago in the Witching Hour. Trevor turned it into Jahmyr Gibbs. The champion won the right to pick first and never used it. He had already sold it, won a title with what he got back, and let somebody else make the call.
Three miles. And nobody does it alone anymore.
The hot dog count is dead. Rob killed it by never doing his and never documenting it, so the league rebuilt the punishment around one principle: it happens in front of everybody. A gallon of milk, then a mile. A Four Loko, then a mile. A full McDonald's meal, then a mile. Three miles, witnessed, verified, done.
The loser carries the bags
Finishing the run does not finish the sentence. Whoever loses the toilet bowl spends next year's trip on staff: hauling in everyone's luggage, running the grocery trip, cooking the champion's meal on Friday night, and keeping the house clean all weekend. The champion sits down to eat. The loser serves the plate.
The best pick of the draft went in round eleven
Jake N Bake and Gibb it to me baby spent the most early capital and came out with the two best rosters, which is the boring answer. The interesting one is Jumpball Jake, who held two picks in the first three rounds and still out-drafted the entire league per pick. Full board, plus the steal, the reach and the best draft, on the Draft page.
Rob is out. The Dixon Cider era begins.
The Waffle House deadline passed the way the whole saga went: quietly, and without a single receipt. Rob becomes the first GM in league history removed for failing a punishment — not for what he didn't eat, but for what he never documented. Lukas Swan entered this story as a replacement golfer and exits it as a franchise owner. Big Coch is dead; long live Dixon Cider. Let the record show this league enforces its bylaws — which should make the last-place race genuinely terrifying from here on out.
Your defense is startable now. Your gunslinger got expensive.
The 2026 votes rewrote the scoring sheet top to bottom. Interceptions doubled to −3. Fumble math eased to −3 total. Defense finally gets paid: 8.5 for holding an offense under 100 yards, 12 for a shutout, 3 for a pick, 4 for a safety, 1.25 a sack. The playoffs grow to eight, so half the league gets in — and the Witching Hour is now written law, veto votes and all. Full breakdown on the Rules page.
French Lick, by a single vote
Next year's trip deadlocked 6–6, French Lick against the Ozarks — and by league custom the reigning champion holds the casting vote. Jumpball Jake spent his on French Lick. First pick of the draft slots, final word when the room splits even. That's what the trophy buys.
How it ended
One season in, one trophy handed out, and a bill that comes due at this year's draft.
The state of things
The board is spent. Every pick the Witching Hour moved has now been turned into an actual football player, and the bill for last season's aggression arrived all at once on Saturday night.
Jake N Bake and Gibb it to me baby walked in holding five picks each inside the first three rounds, more than anyone else, and both walked out with a top-two roster. That is capital doing exactly what capital is supposed to do. The more interesting result is behind them: Jumpball Jake held only two picks in the first three rounds, drafted better than every GM in the league on a per-pick basis, and still came out of it with a live roster. Draft capital wins you the argument. It does not automatically win you the draft.
The Waffle House investigation
The deadline came and went with no documentation. Rob has been removed from the league — the first GM ever expelled for failing a punishment. Lukas Swan assumes the franchise, reborn as Dixon Cider.
Trade veto threshold
Locked. Any side grading 40 or above clears and auto-processes through TradeWise. Below 40 goes to a GM veto vote.
Rule changes
The 2026 votes are in. Playoffs expand to eight, interceptions and fumbles cost more, defense gets a real payday, and the Witching Hour is now written law. One measure died on the floor: the returners still don't get paid. Full results on the Rules page.
Keeper declarations
One per GM. Cost escalates one round higher than where the player was originally drafted.
Team Alec takes the cup
It went to a playoff hole and Jonah won it over KJ. The result set draft-slot selection order, Jumpball Jake took slot one as champion, and 192 picks came off the board Saturday night with Clouser Corner on the phone the whole way.
The league right now
Everything that happened
League business, rulings, keeper declarations and every trade Sleeper reports, newest first.
Power rankings
Nobody has played a snap, so there is no form to measure. The draft is done, which means capital no longer tells you anything either. Until Week 1 finalizes, this board grades the rosters themselves: the best lineup each GM can legally start, the depth behind it, and a discount on everyone currently hurt.
Teams
Twelve franchises, twelve sets of decisions already made. Records, pick capital, and the keeper the math points to.
Outlook
This is redraft. Last year's record says more about the GM than the roster. What carries forward is picks and a keeper.
The roster
Draft capital
Filled chips are picks they hold, struck-through ones are rounds they sold. Slot order inside each round gets settled on the course.
Keeper board
One per GM, and only players you drafted yourself and held all year. The later he went, the cheaper he keeps.
Recent moves
Draft board
Every pick, round by round, straight off the Sleeper draft log.
Matchups
Weekly recaps
The season as it happens, one week at a time. Week 1 opens on rivalry weekend.
Trade ledger
Every trade posts here on its own. Grades get written in after the fact, scored against the 40-point line.
Any side scoring 40 or above clears and auto-processes through TradeWise. A side that falls below 40 triggers a GM veto vote. The read being that a lopsided haul, not a mutually mediocre one, is what the league actually wants to review.
The last night
anything is possible
Week 11. One week before the trade deadline, a window opens and every pick in the league goes on the market. Once it shuts, trading runs one more week — but anything Round 4 or better is locked for the year, Round 5 and later moves only inside a 24-hour window, and any trade involving a draft pick opens to a league veto vote. The future locks and stays locked — that's now written law, ratified by the 2026 rule vote.
Last year it produced 10+ trades in a single stretch. GMs sat down and answered one question in one night: are you winning now, or are you building? There is no third answer, and the picks you move are gone whichever way you go.
Most of them were wrong. One of them was right, and he's the photograph at the top of the home page. The rest are showing up to this draft with holes in their board and nothing to show for it.
Completed trades
The golf trip
Three courses in three days, a draft on Saturday night, and a scorecard that decided who picks where.
Eighteen holes could not separate Jonah and KJ, so they played a nineteenth. Jonah won it, and the cup went with it. Team Slack had the cup within one putt and walked off without it.
Jumpball Jake took slot one on the champion's privilege, then handed the 1.01 to Gibb it to me baby, who had already bought it. Jonah's win moved him to the fourth slot. KJ chose eleventh.
Ryder Cup format
The 2v2 random-partner era is over. No handicaps, two captains, squads picked by draft. Alec and Slack made their selections, and every match now counts toward a team score. Trip results still set the order GMs choose their draft slots — Jumpball Jake picks first as reigning champion.
Roster change
Clouser Corner's GM misses the trip for a new job. Lukas Swan joined the golf roster as a replacement from the free agent pool — and now arrives as a full GM, owner of the franchise formerly known as Big Coch, reborn as Dixon Cider.
Next year: French Lick
The destination vote deadlocked, 6–6, French Lick against the Ozarks. By league custom the reigning champion holds the casting vote when the room splits even — and Jumpball Jake spent his on French Lick. The privilege of the trophy: first pick of the draft slots, and the final word when the league can't decide.
The Ryder Cup draft
Two captains, ten golfers, no handicaps and nowhere to hide. Day One is two scrambles and one singles match.
Team Alec
Alec (C)
Lukas
Jonah
Jake Denton
Trevor
Team Slack
Slack (C)
Carson
KJ
Jake Dunn
Adam
Day One matches
Trevor (Team Alec) vs Adam (Team Slack)
The captains put exactly one singles match on the Day One card, and they gave it to these two. No partner, no scramble, no place to hide a bad swing — eighteen holes of one man against another with the whole trip watching. By the consensus of everyone who has seen them play, these are the two swings the league trusts least, and the captains gave them a full point anyway. Adam is the GM who walked out of the Witching Hour with no second and no third; now he's been handed the loneliest assignment in the new format. Trevor gets the same walk from the other side. Whoever wins this one draws first blood for his team and carries it into the clubhouse, the draft room, and every group chat between now and kickoff. Day One doesn't get decided by this match. The tone of the whole Ryder Cup does.
Lukas & Jonah vs Carson & KJ
Team Alec sends Lukas — the free-agent call-up playing his way into league lore — alongside Jonah. Team Slack answers with Carson and KJ.
Alec & Jake Denton vs Slack & Jake Dunn
The captains' match. Alec pairs with Jake Denton, Slack rides with Jake Dunn. Both skippers put themselves on the Day One card — and a Jake on each bag.
Rules
The mechanics that make this league its own thing. Keepers, pick trading, and a draft order nobody can tank into.
Keepers
One per GM per year. Cost escalates one round higher than where the player was originally drafted. Player must have been originally drafted by that GM and held through the end of the season. Declarations due 72 hours before the draft.
Pick trading & the Witching Hour
Picks may be traded across current and future seasons. The Witching Hour is Week 11, closing one week before the trade deadline. Trading stays open for that final week, with strings attached: anything Round 4 or better is locked for the year, Round 5 and later moves only inside a 24-hour window — and any trade involving a draft pick automatically opens to a league veto vote.
Rivalry weeks
Week 1 and the final week of the regular season are rivalry weeks. Every GM draws their designated rival to open the year and again to close it.
Draft order
Set by golf trip results — now under Ryder Cup rules: no handicaps, two captains, team match play. GMs select their preferred slot in finish order. Jumpball Jake picks first as reigning champion.
The toilet bowl punishment
The hot dog count is repealed. Rob proved an unwitnessed punishment is not a punishment, so the loser of the toilet bowl now runs three miles at the trip, in front of the league. A gallon of milk, then a mile. A Four Loko, then a mile. Any McDonald's meal, then a mile. No documentation required, because everybody is standing right there.
The servant clause
Losing the toilet bowl also buys you a job. At next year's trip the loser carries in everyone's luggage, runs the grocery trip, cooks the champion's meal on Friday, keeps the house clean all weekend, and handles whatever else the league decides needs handling. The champion eats. The loser serves.
The 2026 rule votes
Every measure on the table went to a league vote. Ten passed. One didn't.
Playoff expansion
The field grows from six teams to eight. More rosters alive in December, fewer dead Novembers.
QB interceptions
−1.5 becomes −3.0. The gunslingers now pay full freight for every ball they hand away.
Fumble overhaul
−1 for the fumble, −2 more if it's lost — −3 total, down from −4.5. Butterfingers get a break; turnovers still hurt.
Return yards off the defense
Kick and punt return yardage no longer counts toward D/ST scoring. The defense gets paid for defense.
Pay the returner
The one that died. Return yards still don't pay the man running them back — the league looked at it and said no. Returners remain unpaid labor.
Yards allowed, buffed
Hold an offense under 100 yards and it pays 8.5 (was 5). Under 200 pays 5 (was 3).
Points allowed, buffed
A shutout pays 12 (was 10). Allowing 1–6 pays 9 (was 7). Allowing 7–13 pays 6 (was 4).
Takeaways
A defensive interception is worth 3. Fumbles split the credit: 1 for forcing it, 2 for recovering it.
Sacks
1.0 becomes 1.25 per sack. Pass rush gets a raise.
Safeties
2 becomes 4. Two points, a turnover, and the ball back was always worth more than a field goal.
The Witching Hour, codified
Week 11, closing one week before the deadline. Trading continues that final week, but Round 4 or better is locked, Round 5 and later moves only inside a 24-hour window, and any trade with a pick in it opens to a league veto vote.
Scoring settings
Pulled live from the league. The voted changes above appear here once they're applied in Sleeper's settings.